Croatia beat Nigeria 2-0 on Saturday night to kickstart their World Cup campaign.
Croatia kicked off their 2018 World Cup campaign in style as they comfortably saw off Nigeria with a 2-0 win in Kaliningrad on Saturday night.
The two sides saw group rivals Argentina and Iceland play out a 1-1 draw in Moscow earlier on Saturday, and knew that a win would take them top of their group in a crucial clash.
It was billed as the final knockings of Croatia’s ‘golden generation’ against an effervescent Nigeria side, but in truth, Croatia were convincing winners.
Zlatko Dalic’s men took a first half lead as Mario Mandzukic’s wayward header was turned into his own net by Oghenekaro Otebo from close range ahead of Andrej Kramaric.
Nigeria attempted to get back into the game, but William Troost-Ekong’s foul on Mandzukic allowed Luka Modric to score from the penalty spot and hand Croatia a 2-0 victory.
The likes of Mandzukic, Modric, Ivan Rakitic, Dejan Lovren and Sime Vrsaljko were key to the victory, as was winger Ivan Perisic, who provided drive and quality down the flanks.
Perisic, 29, dazzled at Euro 2016 and now looks set to thrive for Croatia again, a year on from Manchester United’s failed pursuit of the Inter Milan star, as reported by Sky Sports.
Now, United fans have been reacting on Twitter to Perisic’s display against Nigeria, suggesting that he has the quality crossing that Jose Mourinho needs, and suggested that Ed Woodward made a big mistake on not sealing a deal for him last summer.